Boiled Linseed Oil

[Stew Hagerty]

Does anybody use boiled linseed oil as a finish???

Please give give me your opinion as to using as a finish. I have never used it but I heard that it leaves great results.



do you layer it,or cover it with another such as a poly?

Thanks in advance
Dean

I use it on probably 75% of all my projects because it makes wood beautiful. Although I almost never use it alone, but rather as one step in my finishing process. Some other things I often use as parts of my process could be Shellac - 60%, water based dyes - 40%, water based poly - 30%. If you want to keep it simple, just use BLO and give it a nice coat of a good wax. If you use BLO and want to top it off with water based poly just give it a light coat of shellac first and then you're good to go. You can also modify the look of the project by using Amber or even Garnet shellac instead of Blonde if you want.
There are many many combinations. Get yourself a couple good books and/or videos on finishing and do a little experimenting on your own. It won't take long before you figure out what YOU like.

My $0.02. It looks really nice and is a good finish. BUT: Depending on where you live, it could take days for it to "dry". The application rags/cloth, if soaked, is a spontaneous combustion hazard. Leave it outside or in a flameproof container. No finish is worth burning down your shop and/or house. I had a near fire, rags started smoking. Tossed the rags out followed closely by the BLO. I no longer use it. Just my OPINION.

Rags used with BLO are highly flamable and subject to spontanious combustion just like Kyle says. I still use it, but I respect the potential. The best way I know to handle BLO soaked rags is to follow this simple procedure: First of all, I always wet down my BLO rags with some water. Second I bought a simple flame proof oily waste safety can and now I don't worry about it anymore. I put anything soaked with any other kind of solvent or oil based product in the can too.

Always work safe.